Urban News

Source : The Hindu Date : 16.06.2009

Congress wants MCD under Delhi Govt.

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday reiterated that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi should be brought under the purview of the Delhi Government as the civic body, which had nearly 97 per cent of the city area under it, had failed to perform its duties well.

Talking to media persons following a Congress Legislative Party meeting, Ms. Dikshit said placing the MCD under the Delhi Government would remove multiplicity of authority and result in better governance.

She said the issue was also discussed by the CLP and the members raised a strong demand for urging the Centre to hand over the MCD to the Delhi Government. The issue of salaries and perks of MLAs was also discussed and it was decided that there would be no increase, she said. Similarly, she added, the amount of the MLA Local Area Development Fund would remain at the level of Rs.2 crore per year. As for the demand on putting the Delhi Police under the Delhi Government, Ms. Dikshit said her government had not asked for it. “What we are asking is that specialisation be brought into the police force in a big way. There should be specialisation in the fields of traffic management and general behaviour to make it a very cosmopolitan force.”

The CLP meeting also una-nimously adopted a resoluti-on to thank Congress presid-ent Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and general secretary Rahul Gandhi for steering the party to a “resounding and historic” victory in the Lok Sabha elections. It also lauded the work of Ms. Dikshit and others in ensuring a clean sweep in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls.

Source : The Hindu Date : 16.06.2009

Illegal constructions to be demolished

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: In a bid to crack down on illegal construction activity, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is launching a demolition drive this Tuesday in its Central Zone.

According to civic body officials, about 30 such properties have been identified by the zonal office. They are in Bhogal, Ashram, Jangpura, Hari Nagar and Chittaranjan Park among others. After demolition starts in Central Zone, similar action might also take place in the remaining 11 zones of the MCD.

A senior MCD official said on Monday: “We could not initiate demolition action against unauthorised construction during the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections as there was shortage of police force. Resultantly a lot of unauthorised construction has taken place in various colonies in the past few months and we are hoping that the new demolition drive would check that.”